HOPE Rewritten
by Termony Rairos
Summary: Hope, might not be anything else but the persistence in going on and not to falter... Rewritten work of H.O.P.E., my other fanfic. [One more chapter until completion of story.]
1. Her return from Camp

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten**  
Written By Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 01 + Her return from Camp

* * *

A girl who was dressed in a green overall was walking into the garden of a house. The overall had the top stuck to the bottom. It was like she was wearing a jacket that was connected to her pants. The overall had an interesting pattern. It was actually green and white.

She was actually thinking about something.

The summer had just ended. She was really feeling happy. It was as if she suddenly became carefree of everything. Of course, it was not everything. She was, however, just happy.

As she walked along the path in the front yard that she called garden sometimes, she felt that a lot of the things were different. The flowers she loved were blooming, the sunflowers.

She looked at one of them. It was… just as tall as she was. It was weird. Maybe this one was special. She did not know what to think, actually.

Afterwards, she decided to think more about something else.

 _Mum is at work. I should stay outside for a moment,_ she thought.

Maybe, to her, the outside was the best, so she could stay chilled.

 _This is the city of H.O.P.E., where hope lies, like everyone else here, I thought so too, but there is still uncertainty. Because… that was the most we could do. Can we… do more…?_

She was looking up to the sky where the sun was. She was tilting her head like that tall sunflower. She was… finding the sun in her own way. It was as if she was a sunflower.

-/-

The people in the house was burning in ambition.

"Why isn't she coming inside. We saw her is she going to make us mad? The waiting is killing me. I kept on thinking 'she's outside she's coming in but she isn't'!" Said Yolant. "Why isn't she coming in!? I see her from the windows!"

"Phone her! Someone phone her!" Vino said. "Tell her to put stuff into her house and come to my place!"

"You phone her!" Catherine said. "You phone her!"

"Okay okay," replied Vino.

-/-

Luna's cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

(GET HER INTO THE HOUSE!) yelled Yolant.

(I KNOW I KNOW! …oh wait, the cell phone is on…) Vino said.

They hung up.

"…"

Luna was unhappy.

She opened the door to her house. Slowly, she was looking everywhere, thinking that they might be hiding.

When she walked into the living room and opened the light. Her friends jumped up and said, "SURPRISE!"

She was slightly startled, since she knew this would happen. They always did this when someone went somewhere extra far away and for extra longer time. For her, it was not that long nor that far away. However, it was because of something else that this skipped her mind.

"Erm…" Luna said. "Thanks…"

She said. "I'll… go to my room because I'm tired, okay? You guys can have the cakes like usual."

Catherine smiled. "Sure, I really liked the one I got last year!"

They waved goodbye.

Luna was going to get her stuff from the gate and Rey followed.

"Rey?" Luna looked at him. "Thanks."

He was helping her lifting the stuff upstairs, to where her bed room was, and where all bed rooms were.

Suddenly, someone dropped a dish.

She yelled. "YOU'RE PAYING FOR IT!"

Then she added. "AND CLEAN UP!"

Yolant yelled. "YOU KNOW WE ALWAYS DO."

Rey had a light smile.

They continued walking.

When they got to the bed room, she said thanks to him again.

"Rey, thanks!"

He nodded, and asked. "Have you made friends?"

"Yeah, but… I think my friendship circle gets weirder and weirder. To be honest, it was really exciting getting to know these people."

He was amused. "I thought I wasn't that weird."

"Well…" She said. "Well… Well… it's getting weirder, so you aren't there, at least not yet."

He walked away.

She was really grateful that he carried the load. She was tired and tired.

"You're a gentleman!" Luna said behind him, and he heard it. "You don't find these that much nowadays!"

He made a hand sign to let her know that he got the message.

Then, she walked into her bed room.

She put down her stuff, and went to the shower upstairs. Afterwards, she put her suitcase aside, and she thought maybe she should check her online social network account before she slept. Then she saw the journal. She opened it. It was from Rey. It had a grey surface and inside the pages felt refined.

She smiled.

 _Thank-you._

She decided to get some water from downstairs and heard Yolant's voice hitting rooftop.

She screamed. "STOP WRECKING MY HOUSE!"

After she got upstairs again, she slept for a while, for about an hour. She was feeling quite sleepy but she knew she was not sleepy anymore. She got up. She thought about what happened in the summer and the friends they had made.

She decided to write in the journal.

To her, this was something she wanted to remember, so she could treasure this happiness within her.

 **End of Chapter One**

A/N:

I like the story line of H.O.P.E., but… not how I wrote it. I don't like wordiness and long descriptions. Anyway, I just didn't like how I wrote it. Because of that, I'm rewriting it again. :)

Most chapters would be around 800-1,000ish words, but some would be just about 500 words. The story would be about 20 chapters long, and so it's a big project for me, so I write some 500 words chapters.

Cheers!


	2. Back to the beginning

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten**  
Written By Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 02 + Back to the beginning

* * *

I woke up early that morning. The day that I received my acceptance package. Rey told me that not that many people wanted to go later on, but… I felt like I should. I think he got in, too, at that point. I wanted to go to the Camp for War Survival because I heard someone said he will go.

In our country, the nation of Earth, the most popular social networking website was OnlineSocial. I added him onto my Social friend list for quite a few years. We were closer friends back then.

Anyway, I asked him what he was going to do for the summer and it was this. To be honest, I like these kind of the things too. It could be fun… I guess. I see people on TV doing these sorts of things and it was really cool.

The city we were in was called H.O.P.E., and it stood for 'Hope for People Everywhere.' I think those name makers just wanted to make it cool. Anyway, our province was called Hope.

There were other countries on this planet too. There were Mars, Jupiter… Pluto, etc. Pluto was the biggest country and Earth was the third.

Mars was second biggest and Jupiter was the smallest. Anyway, our planet is called Solar system. The solar system was our home. We ought to protect it, just like how everyone said.

After I saw the acceptance package, I was really happy and so I went to school. My school is a school for people who wanted to start off early in different fields of career.

We could choose to go to university later, but now we were somehow in advance.

It was what people called a career school, but most people did not want to go somewhere like that. There was more work load, but we got to learn more, what people learn in normal school and career specific materials.

"Hey Michelle!" I called out to the two girls in a distance. "Jessica!"

They turned back and saw me. "Lunamaria!"

I rushed to them. "I'm going away to this Camp in the summer. I'm so happy!"

They smiled. "Nice. I thought you won't go there because it was tough."

"Um… I heard it's not tough, but a lot of work."

"Well, good luck to you," Michelle said. "You know, when you're in the hospital, you should come and see if we're on shift."

I nodded. They were intern nurses at the hospital.

"I'll go there next weekend. I'll see you guys then hopefully?"

As we stepped onto school ground, we rushed to different directions. Of course, I wanted to meet them later.

Just then, I saw Rey.

"Rey!" I jumped onto the ground right next to him. "Have you received the package?"

He looked at me. He was not startled at all. Maybe it was why I liked him so much as my friend.

"Oh hey, I did." He seemed slower to react today. "I… don't think I can go there with you. Family duty. You know how my uncle is. He's picking another fight."

I nodded. I was also quite disappointed. "I'm sorry… to hear that. I hope your uncle goes well."

He smiled. "Well… I hope you get to have fun."

I smiled also. "I hope so too."

We began walking into the engineering department.

-/-

"Hey Athrun, you're going into that thing your dad wants you to go to again," Rusty said.

"Shut up." Athrun replied.

"Come on… dada's boy…" Miguel said.

"Shut up." Athrun walked away.

He walked to the corridor at the side of the window and looked down. He saw a girl and a boy walking side by side. Originally, he was just thinking, but he saw the girl jumping onto the ground next to the handsome boy, so he looked more intensely.

He looked away and continued on walking, only to feel more frustrated than before.

-/-

The person who told me that I could go to the Camp for War Survival was Athrun. When we talked on the messaging software called SocialMessaging, he told me that if I wanted, I could go, because I told him I liked war movies. Besides, he told me there was always a paintball fight at the end, so I thought it would be cool.

"Lunamaria, what are you thinking?" Nicole asked me.

I frowned. "Random things."

"Well… won't you be happy to see my bug collection. I put it onto Social. Have you seen it?"

I sighed, relieved that he was not really probing onto what I was thinking. "Well… I saw it. I'm quite scared of bugs you know… so… I don't really have any comment…"

He smiled.

 _I could've sworn it was a grin…_ I thought.

"I'm going to Mars for summer exchange with Lacus for Music," he said. "It's kinda sad that she doesn't like bugs either."

"Really? Did she say something about your collection?"

"Well…" Nicole said. "I showed her a picture of it during our time at the music club. It was a zoomed in picture of a mosquito. I thought it's cool because you never see it…"

I laughed. "I don't think I'm scared of bugs that much, in that case." I understood what he implied. Lacus must had been startled.

"Oh yeah…" Nicole asked. "Do you have Lacus on Social?"

I nodded. "I do actually. Michelle and Jessica introduced me to her. We talked for a while, and we volunteered for some time at the school music club. So I have her."

I loved music, but I was not really that into it. At most I knew how to play some simple songs on the piano.

"What about it?" I asked. "You guys are really good partners in song writing. Is there something going on?"

He smiled.

 _Another grin…_

"It was nothing. I was only curious."

Then we talked about something more. Sometimes, I thought that they were going out, but I thought I could not know for more because I did not know Lacus, and Nicole would not tell anyone.

After school, before I go for the day, after I cleaned up my mess in the lab with Catherine, I checked my Social.

Social was usually what we referred to as OnlineSocial, where we showed what we had and let others comment. Message was SocialMessage. It was a messenger for people to use in their cell phones and computers.

I saw Lacus online, and she sent me a message. It was just 'Happy Summer Time!' with a smile face. I think she sent it to everyone. She was using that function for sending good wishes and greetings.

I was walking home. I was getting passed by the park and saw him.

 _Athrun…_

I looked at him.

After a while, he stopped blowing the leaf. He looked at me. We were both surprised.

Finally, he spoke.

"How come you're here? It's dark now, it's ten p.m." He seemed worried.

"I… live close by. Remember?" I said. "I… Well, your music is nice. You learned that from your mother, right?"

He nodded.

"Thanks… for your invite to camp," I said and smiled slightly. "I'll see you there."

He smiled slightly too.

"I'll see you there."

I waved good-bye to him.

It was, as if, it happened before, when we waved goodbyes to one another.

 **End of Chapter Two**

A/N:

I checked a page on wiki and I don't think there are OnlineSocial and SocialMessage. Anyway, yeah. I like how the planets are countries now… ^^" I don't know if I can come up with names for the planets in the story… Anyway, please R&R!


	3. Meeting Andrew Waltfeld

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written By Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 03 + Meeting Andrew Waltfeld

* * *

Pretty much nearing the end of June, on a Sunday morning that I received a phone call from my buddies. Of course, they were just having their fun. To me, it was always food and some entertainment, but sometimes… they crossed the line. Even so, I only got a little annoyed by them.

Today, they phoned me at ten a.m. in the morning asking me to go somewhere with them.

(Lunamaria, come to the mall,) Shinn said.

"Sure, what's going on?" I asked.

(They say they are going to be at Charlie's to get some cupcakes.)

"Sure," I said. "Can I get there by, like, two in the afternoon? Cuz… I feel like staying home longer."

(Sure, it starts at one anyway.)

"… Okay, see you."

"Mum…" I looked at her in the kitchen. I was getting milk when the call rang.

I took the glass of milk from the table and looked at the calendar for her.

"I thought we should go to Meyrin sooner. Maybe next week. I'm going somewhere."

She nodded. "Go out and have some fun."

I nodded too, but… there was a lingering fatigue.

-/-

When I got there, there were some of my good friends.

"Hey Rey," I waved at him as well as the others. "Hey guys."

"You missed out on something cool," Vino said. "This place doesn't sell pudding but some idiot brought a pudding, and then they were looking at that pudding for some time."

I looked at those two.

"Why is Chase and Zac staring at that cup of pudding though?"

Yolant said. "I think it got something to do with an argument they had years ago… and the same one recently. It has something about puddings. So Chase got one and Zac was trying to battle with him."

"Have they battled yet?"

"No," Shinn said. "I think these two have too much complicated relationships. I mean… they can actually make a STORY out of a cup of pudding."

The few people around them are started to chant, _Fight! Fight! Fight! …_

Feeling weird, I decided to ditch the crowd.

"I'll get my cupcake later," I said to them, and I walked out of the cupcake store.

Just as I walked out of the store, I noticed the golden coloring from a clothing store not far away. It was a store about the high class dresses in Venus. Surprisingly it was cheaper than I thought.

I always thought it was too cheap, but it was still a bit more expensive than other stores. The golden feeling from these golden clothes were really magnetizing.

 _The fourth biggest… Venus…_

I used to wanting to go there later.

As I was walking by that store, I kept on looking at the goldenness. Suddenly, someone pat lightly on my shoulder.

"You owe me money…" that person said.

I screamed, but not in such a loud voice what would startle everyone.

He smiled. He grinned, I mean. "Relax."

"Nicole…" I saw him. I could not believe I was that scared. It was just a pat on the shoulder. "Don't do that! It was really creepy!"

He still just smiled.

He asked. "Why are you here? Just out of curiosity."

"Chase and Zac are making a scene out of a cup of pudding, so I walked away from them. You?"

"I'm here to talk to someone about the theatre club I joined a while ago."

"Well…" I said. "Want me to tag along with you?"

His eyes twinkled. No, his eyes _grinned._ "Sure."

Just as we were getting there, I saw a sign from Mars and it was about sports clothing.

Nicole spoke first during this walk. "We haven't seen each other outside of school since January, right? We were both at the graveyard."

I slightly nodded. "Yeah, but… it's not like we have something in common."

"It's not really what I meant. I actually… meant to ask you about visiting the graveyard every January for your biological mother."

"I'm fine," I said. Maybe not so much, but… I think I'm okay in calling my biological aunt as my mum for now.

"My Aunt Andrea can be my mum for now," I said. "I think it's okay too."

He smiled. "Yep"

When we were at the shop, the shop was closed and I thought it was odd, but the store owner was opening the shop again.

"Oh… Hi hi hi," The owner said. "I was getting lunch."

The name of the store was Aisha's. I was really happy that I finally got to go inside. I kept on walking by, but I never saw what there were inside because it did not felt like somewhere that I should have gone to.

The store owner, as introduced by Nicole, was Andrew Waltfeld. He was a tanned man. It was strange because the summer was just getting here.

As we walked inside and Nicole was talking to Waltfeld, I looked at the masks on the walls. They seemed like those masks that were found in the drama cabinet in the school.

"They were the Greek masks. One type of theatre arts," he said.

"They are… so powerful…" I said.

He seemed to have smiled and said. "Yeah, you can buy one if you like, ten dollars each."

"I'll keep that in mind. I'm not that much of a theatre person."

He nodded.

They were talking about his wife now, Aisha.

She went to Pluto recently but she will be back soon, and then she would run this shop for the summer while he would go away for the summer.

"Is she… a stage designer?" After a while I interrupted.

"Yeah, but she usually does something else now."

I nodded.

Soon we left the place and I waved goodbye to him and I walked back to my friends. They said they were still there. After I got back, I saw Zac ate a cup of pudding from somewhere else and rubbed it in on Chase. Chase ate his cup of pudding.

 _What were they playing?_

Needless to say, I did not understand these types of games.

After I got back home, I talked to 'Mum'.

"Mum," I said. "It's June now. You should go outside sometimes."

She nodded. "It was like yesterday that it was May, when you got that acceptance package."

I smiled. "Yeah."

 **End of Chapter Three**

A/N: I like writing about social interactions… :) Luna's family has a lot of complicated things. For some reason, I felt like putting relationships like this in this story.


	4. At time zero: Athrun and Luna

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 04 + At time zero: Athrun and Luna

* * *

When the day came, I saw Athrun at the central station where long distance trains came and went to the distant cities. It was where the meet up was as well.

The July sun was shining. I felt a little bit cold because it was early morning, and some time before 8 a.m.

"Hey," Athrun looked at me and he nodded.

"Hi, Athrun," I said to him with a smile. "What are you bringing to camp? You don't have much to carry."

He said. "There isn't a lot that I will need. You need more, of course. You need to be properly dressed. I only need to wear t-shirts and pants."

I looked at my backpack and my suitcase. It was quite somewhat compared to his backpack and sports bag.

The bus came. It was Andrew Waltfeld. I was quite surprised.

Waltfeld smiled. "We've met again."

I smiled. "I can tell actually."

I stepped onto the bus with Athrun. The one driving was a man with very short dark red hair. I smiled at him as well. I seemed to like him.

As the bus drove, I sat beside Athrun. Without talking much, he fell into sleep. I thought he never really slept anywhere but his bedroom, because it was easy to wake him up whenever I saw him asleep.

-/-

 _It was a day that I had to visit the Hospital for Meyrin._

 _I kept on asking Mum why she was there, and she kept on saying because some irresponsible people dropped something onto her head from some high rises in downtown._

 _She hated them. She still hated them. She always wanted me to do something else when she washed Meyrin, so I always went somewhere else._

 _I was at the flower fields again. I was looking at the sunflowers. I… always loved sunflowers. Aren't they beautiful?_

 _This time, a beautiful woman and a little boy stood next to me. The little boy was my age._

 _I was a little bit afraid._

 _She smiled at me and asked how I was doing and what my name was. I answered because she was wearing something like Meyrin._

 _Mum said that they had to stay in the hospital, and they could not go anywhere else, so I had to be nice to them._

 _That boy somehow smiled as well._

 _She told me that he was Athrun, and she was Lenore, his mother, and she stayed there because she had headaches._

 _"_ _They hurt really bad," she said. "I feel bad for your little sister too. Do you have any other siblings?"_

 _I shook my head. "No, Meyrin is my only sibling."_

 _She looked at me with an emotion that I could not interpret at that time. "Athrun… has no sibling… but to know that I have painful headaches was painful too."_

 _Athrun smiled more. He reached out with a hand. He said, "Want to be friends? I'll play with you from now on in the hospital, so our mums can be happy."_

 _I smiled. "Sure."_

 _We shook hands._

 _His eyes were brighter than anything else that were in my fields of vision._

-/-

After I finished looking at the apps on my cell phone, I looked out by the window. Athrun woke up too, at that time. He seemed to be thinking.

 **End of Chapter Four**


	5. Their Reasons

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 05 + Their Reasons

* * *

As we got to the camp site, I saw someone coming to the bus and peeking somehow. She had dark brown hair and light blue eyes. I could feel her gaze onto the bus. Athrun looked a little bit stern.

As we got off the bus, that little girl exclaimed.

"Athrun!"

"Maple…" He looked even sterner.

"What?" She asked. That girl looked like Athrun.

 _Well… Athrun did mention he had a girl cousin…_ I thought.

"I don't have the cash right now. I pay you back with the two hundred dollars after camp, okay?" Athrun said.

 _Ugh…_ I thought. _I remember he likes to borrow money from her…_

She just kept on telling him to send her a cheque later or something like sending her a gift or shop with her later. Soon, Athrun came out of his little world and looked at me.

He awkwardly smiled. "I forgot to bring money that time."

I smiled. "I do that sometimes."

Waltfeld coughed and we were signalled to get our stuffs out from the luggage storage of the bus.

We waved goodbye to these two people.

Maple started to introduce herself. "I'm Maple. What about you?"

I smiled. "I'm Luna."

Athrun coughed. "She's my only cousin."

"Nice meeting you!" She said.

After we got into the common area for the campers, we were instructed to go to the same cabin, me and Maple.

We said goodbye to Athrun.

Maple had a lot of stuff with her.

"Would you mind if I sleep on the bottom bed?"

"No," I said. "Go for it. You had too much stuff."

She thanked me. Then, she shoved everything under the bed and I put my luggage next to it. I hung my backpack on the bed.

We sat down on the bed. It was a lot of work what we did.

"Hey, thanks for helping me carrying some of the stuff," Maple said.

"It wasn't that bad," I told her. Then I thought of something. "Which city are you from?"

Maple said. "Moon city."

"Oh… cool! I've been there. It was really cool. I liked the buses there the most. They were so cool. They go everywhere in the city."

She smiled. "Yeah… But I want to see less of them… it just gets annoying…"

I smiled too. "Hope city doesn't have much. That's why. But the transit there is still good. I just thought it's new and cool."

"I know… but… I usually don't go anywhere but around the neighbourhood. I don't use it often. Other people do."

"Well… I don't either. But… I don't have a licence for driving yet, so I pay more attention."

"Yeah… well… I don't like the transit because the maps get confusing for me. And my neighbourhood is downtown, so I get everything anyway."

"Really? I live close to a big mall but not downtown."

"Yep," she said. "We have clothing stores, technology stores, shoe stores, food restaurants, fancy food restaurants, and everything that most people wanted. There are even music shops."

"Wow…"

"You live close to a mall right?" Maple asked.

"Yeah… There are everything too. But everyone in school lives next to it, so I get sad because I want to meet other people too."

"That's true…" She said. Somehow, it felt like she was giving more thoughts to it.

"Hey." Suddenly, someone said hi to us.

We looked.

"You're…?" Maple said.

That girl smiled a little and said. "I'm Sandy. Hi."

Another girl was with them. She said. "I'm Elsmeralda." She was adorable.

Just then, another girl came in. She looked at us, and Sandy asked for her name.

"Um… I'm Elisha. Nice meeting you."

Sandy looked at me. I smiled. "I'm Luna. Nice meeting you."

She looked at Maple. "I'm Maple. Nice meeting you."

 _It felt weird…_ I thought.

Maple was asked a question, so she answered. "I talked to one of the leaders. He said that we'll just do some general activities today and tomorrow we'll meet our leaders. I'm kinda hungry right now. Maybe we can chat later?"

They nodded. They looked at me.

"Me too. We are going to meet our friend down there for lunch." I said, remembering Athrun.

"Which cabin is she in?" Elsmeralda asked.

"I don't know… but he's my cousin." Maple said.

Sandy nodded, so we walked out of the cabin.

I said. "They are so stern."

-/-

When we met Athrun, he was already eating.

"I want a hamburger too…" said Maple miserably, looking at what Athrun was eating.

"I can give you a small piece. You don't want it because it was already half eaten."

She nodded. "I feel sad… I want meat."

Athrun looked at what she had.

"Salad? You don't go well with salad."

I looked at her. "What does he mean?"

Maple said. "The taste makes me sick, but it's only the taste, so I can still eat it."

 _Too bad I only have salad… Otherwise I could help her out. It's like me and ice cream…_

Maple seemed to have noticed me. She smiled. "Don't worry. It's only vegie. Do you have these kind of things too?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I can't really eat ice cream."

She smiled. "That's fine. Most kids would think it's a horror."

I said. "Yeah, even I think so, because everyone is so happy with the taste. And there was only me feeling left out."

She took a bite of the raw vegetables. "I don't think I'm left out to be honest."

-/-

Later on that night, we were going to sleep. The girls around our beds were talking. Everyone was.

Sandy and Elsmeralda were really close to us, and Elisha too, but somehow further away.

"Why are you guys here?" Sandy asked.

Some other girls said that their parents thought they put on too much make up, or that they are wearing too much dresses. Basically, their parents said they are not tough enough.

"We can still wear jewelleries here to be honest. It's not that bad." One girl said.

The other girl said. "We can still use our cell phones. There is wi-fi. And we can still talk to our boyfriends."

Sandy's reasons were she wanted to be tougher because she wanted to.

"You know," the girl with the cell phone said. "We are just getting more independent. The most this is like military is that we get a paint ball fight. This is just boarding school, but it's a camp."

Sandy did not seem happy.

Elisha was asked, so she told them she was just here to learn about the wars. "It's like prepping for History classes in the future."

"You want to be a historian?" She was asked.

"I just want to see how things are. It's a good thing learning about those things anyway, so we understand how come life works this way."

I nodded.

They asked me and Maple.

"I… wanted adventure, so I'm here," I said.

Maple said. "My family think I should get tougher, more independent, you know."

Finally, the last person said. "I wanted to get tougher." It was Elsmeralda.

The person responsible for our cabin came in at this time and told us that it was about time to get light off.

She was a beautiful women. Black hair and black eyes. We asked her why she was here. She told us that it was because she liked being a teacher and she liked learning about the past.

 **End of Chapter Five**

A/N: The two chapters 4 and 5 are quite heavily modified.

Anyway, please review for encouraging me to continue on writing. :)


	6. The second day

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 06 + The second day

* * *

The second day was when we got our leaders.

I was lying on the bed on the top that night, and I kept on thinking about that day. I wished that Meyrin would be here because she liked being with the crowd, even though she always talked less than me. I felt this reluctance to wake up tomorrow because the sadness was so enduring.

I could not sleep, and I could not imagine myself waking up.

I thought it was because after our mother died, our father left us. It did not hurt us that much. He had been always a loner. He had one or two friends, and he did not talk about anything with anyone.

Apparently, his best friend was our mum. I guessed I could understand, but… the pain of bearing this loneliness. I thought he was torturing himself too much. Our mother really wanted him to be more outgoing and more optimistic. That was why, she had us.

Maple was waking up to go to the bathroom. It was two a.m. in the morning. I slept, but I woke up somehow.

-/-

In the morning of the second day, I ate with Athrun and Maple. Maple traded the salad for Athrun's rice with gravy. I got there last, and so I got salad as well.

"I like salad to be honest," I told Maple this when she asked me how does it taste for me. "I just don't like ice cream. I don't like sweets in general."

She sighed. "I don't like both…" There was a scoop of ice cream on Athrun's plate and she gave it back to Athrun. "I know you like it…"

Athrun said. "I'm not letting it go to waste."

Just then, the announcement came telling us to go to our leaders afterwards. I thought of looking up who our leaders were, but perhaps I should wait until later.

I began eating my salad.

After breakfast, we stretched a little, because the announcement told us to. Everyone kept on telling us to listen to the announcements. Our cabin leader told us many times last night. I believed she was called, Wave.

I asked them. "Do you think we'll have Wave, me and Maple? She was our cabin leader after all."

They shook their heads. "No," Maple said. "We'll be with Andrew Waltfeld."

"How do you know?"

Athrun said. "I asked you to… sign up with me. Remember? They asked you if you know anyone, so we'll be in the same team with that leader. You, me, and Maple."

"Oh…" I said. I thought my happiness meter would explode. "I see…"

Maple smiled.

I got a little bit nervous and jumpy. "Where is Waltfeld?"

"Let's go over to the side," Athrun said.

I asked. "Are there going to be many more people?"

Athrun said. "No, because no more people came without friends. So there'll be the three of us. We're in camp c. Only people in camp c get four people or less in a group, people in camp b or a, get into larger groups."

"What is camp a, b, c?" I asked. I didn't read that part of the information booklet.

"If you're coming back the first time, b, if you're coming back the second time, a. The activities get more challenging I heard."

"Yeah," Maple nodded. "I'm not coming back next time."

I saw Sandy and Elsmeralda going to camp a.

Anyway, I saw Andrew Waltfeld coming to us.

"It's a good thing I know your faces. Come on. Let's go," he said. He was holding a large thermos container with him.

Maple whispered. _"_ _It's coffee."_

When we got out of the commons area, Waltfeld led us to somewhere with peace and quiet.

We sat on the rocks on the small hill while he gave us the first talk as our leader.

"Well… welcome to Camp for War Survival," he said. "You're group 29, the last group on the list."

We nodded.

"I'll just… helping you to understand the studies you are interested in more. You guys do realize this is like a boarding school in the summer right?"

We nodded.

"Don't worry though," he laughed. "There is me, your group tutor."

"Is it… going to be heavy duty work?" I asked. "The booklet doesn't say."

"Not really, but you guys will play with games. Nothing's scary until the paint ball fight though."

Just then, his cell phone rang. He said, "Excuse me," and walked away from them for a moment.

Maple said out loud. "It better be urgent!" Then, she looked at me and said. "He drinks coffee every moment of his life. How can he take it?"

I fake laughed. "I don't know…"

When he walked back, he said. "I _heard_ it. It was urgent. And I don't drink that much coffee, but you guys must be tired, so a cup won't hurt right?"

I smiled.

Athrun took a cup too.

As we were drinking coffee, Maple looked at a bird flying towards us. She kept on looking at it until it was right about us.

She said. "What if that bird were a witch and she only wore a skirt underneath?"

Andrew and Athrun choked on their coffee.

-/-

After Maple got back from the bathroom, it was my turn. I felt this desire to go there, just to wash my face or so. I went there already. As I was walking out of the cabin and into the trees and mud, I saw our leader, Wave, sleeping soundly on her bed.

I walked out. I breathed the fresh cold air. I felt a little bit relaxed. Perhaps I always felt too much. I felt this desire to stay there for a moment.

Soon, I washed my face and went back to sleep.

 **End of Chapter Six**

A/N: One note, Maple was originally designed to look like Kira and Lacus even way back when the story was first written. It's like she's how would their daughter look like. That is, if they would have one.


	7. Friendship forms

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 07 + Friendship forms

* * *

A few days after our leader was introduced to us, we got textbooks to carry to class.

"It's cheap paper, but it's heavy and thick," Maple said.

We were waiting for Waltfeld to come and pick us up so we'll ask some questions about the lectures.

"Loisel," Athrun said her last name. "It's the weight the only thing you care about?"

"Zala, you don't understand. I'm complaining, I'm whining. It's not about the weight."

"I don't like this textbook either. It's ridiculously thick because the words are so big and scattered throughout the whole book," Athrun said. "It doesn't have any pictures almost."

"Not really," I said, feeling as if I intervened a war between bloods. "I checked too. It doesn't have a lot of pictures, but the words are easy to read."

"But…" Maple Loisel said. "It's too thick. So much to be carried around. Is this just a random rambling?"

"I don't know either…" said Athrun.

I smiled. "I don't really care…" That was to answer Maple's question.

Just then, Waltfeld appeared.

"Hey," Maple said. "Guess how many thick books we have?"

"You can put them back to your cabin?"

"We need to study with you," Maple said.

Waltfeld said. "But it's three-thirty now. You can't study that much. We should make a schedule."

"Well… at least I thought we should go over the big pictures of each class with you."

"Yeah, you get less lecture and more time with me later."

Maple sighed. "I don't take that much class on history and stuff. This gets me worried."

"Yeah… follow me," our leader said.

I began to pack up my stuff and so did Maple and Athrun. Athrun was walking in front of me. He dropped a notebook from his backpack onto the ground. There was a bookmark marking the pages for this notebook.

"Athrun," I said to him. "Your backpack is unzipped."

He looked back. "Thanks…"

Maple and Waltfeld were still talking about the whole schedule.

"This bookmark seems nice. A blue sky with white snowflakes," I said to him.

He smiled awkwardly. "My friends said it's like I'm a girl…"

"Do you like snow?"

"Erm yeah, I love it, but we don't get much of it here though. We get more at White City."

I gasped. "You've been there? I never went there even though I wanted to."

"Yeah," he smiled. "I didn't tell much people about it, but I did. Nicole dragged me there."

I smiled. "He can't find much things alive there. He loves animals, right?"

He nodded. "There were polar bears there."

"That's so cool…"

"That's where I got my bookmark."

Maple looked back and she smiled. Waltfeld said, "Come on, faster! You guys have to walk faster. We are going to a place to see the lake from afar!"

We smiled and we followed them.

When we got there I saw the blue lake. The air was cold and refreshing.

"My mum got headaches coming to places like these," he said.

"My mum was more of an indoor person, but her heart is weak, so she couldn't come up to places like these. My dad brought me to places like these once or twice."

"They should be in a peaceful place now," he said.

I smiled. "Yeah."

Maple and Waltfeld were talking to us again. Maple was asking him where the picnic table he promised was.

Later, he briefly explained that we needed only one textbook at a time and that the classes were not as demanding as we thought.

-/-

"Maple," I said to her. "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm okay. Maybe my head is just a little bit hot," she said. And she felt asleep once we got back to our cabin. She did not seem well. I called for Wave and she was able to help her out with some first aid people.

They said she was not burning, but it was still better for her to sleep a while. After she awoke two or three hours later, she seemed much better.

"I'm okay now," she smiled. "But… I feel like I haven't done much."

I smiled. "It's okay. You got me worried."

She smiled. "No worry. Let's see the time… Pretty much eight now. I want to take a shower. I should be okay right?"

"Sure," I said, looking at the watch on my wrist.

She dressed in a very warm way as we walked out of our cabin. There were showers there but they are all used and some people were lining up. She wore quite a few layers. She was happy.

She was asking me questions. "So when did you meet Athrun?"

"I met him at a Hospital at Hope city."

"I see… it was when his mother was there, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Were you guys close?"

"We were okay. Why are you asking this?"

She said. "I'm just asking. A lot of things happened very recently. It's not just Athrun's mum but it's a lot of everyone. So I'm just seeing how things really were."

I felt sad.

She smiled. "It's not that big a deal to be honest, but… you know that right? I still didn't know you well enough because we just met."

I nodded. "I know. I'm just not asking that much questions."

When we got there, we saw Athrun and Waltfeld.

"Athrun!" Maple said and rushed to him. She seemed to have spoken something to his ears.

Waltfeld came to me. "Her fever is better now?"

I smiled. "Yeah."

He smiled too. "Thanks, you're a really nice person."

"I guess." I did not know what to say.

As it turned out, these showering places are for campers only, not the staffs, so we waved good bye to Waltfeld.

Athrun looked at me a little bit. I did not know why.

Maple was smiling and pulling me into the showering house.

 **End of Chapter Seven**

A/N: Maple Loisel is a character that is based on me. It's not totally me of course, but close enough… :)


	8. Talking outside

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 08 + Talking outside

* * *

Soon, we were all doing some tests after one another. It was not as much as it sounded, but… there was a feeling of tension because there was a lot of pressure. It was something new to us.

"Luna," Maple asked. "Are you interested in these things?"

"Well… I'm okay," I said. "Hmm… what's Athrun doing outside?"

We were in the Hall where we ate our food. Athrun was outside. He said he would be back soon, but he was not. Instead, he was just there, outside.

"Let's go and see."

Maple and I walked outside, and we saw Athrun blowing a leaf. There was a nice sound.

"Oh you're blowing leaves to make music! I want to try too," I said. "We better sit on the bench."

He sighed. "This feels nice, the summer wind."

Maple sighed. "I know."

I sighed. "I don't like this pressure."

"Are you that scared of exams? I remember you were," Athrun said.

"I am very scared of them. I'm always thinking I'll fail…" Tears were coming out of my eyes… in some way. The fear was real. "I just don't like to get nervous."

Athrun nodded. "Maybe the inside is too suffocating."

"Hey! What are you guys doing?" Waltfeld came behind Maple. "Maple, weren't you complaining about the test schedules? Why are you still not reading the text books?"

She frowned. "The schedule is fine. I was just freaking out. Don't rub it in, please."

Waltfeld shrugged.

He sat in front of Athrun, on the bench right in front of our bench.

"What do you think of the other campers so far? Just for relieving your stress," said Waltfeld.

"I think they are okay." He looked at me first, so I replied first. "It's kinda like school, but this is boarding school."

He smiled. "You don't really talk to them?"

"Yeah… there are Athrun and Maple…"

"It's true," Athrun said. "I don't even talk to the guys. I just need to talk to you since you're a guy."

He took a sip of that cup of hot drink.

"I thought… you guys would notice something."

"What is it?" Maple asked.

"The reason why we put you guys into groups of three, so you guys would make friends with other people."

"Do other people make friends?" I asked.

"Sometimes, but… you three don't even talk to other people."

"Is it bad?" Maple asked.

"It's not. I'm just looking at it on the basis of interest. Some people do, some people don't."

Maple sighed. "And I got worried about how we acted…"

Waltfeld smiled. "My apology for making you worried, but it's interesting, right?"

Maple smiled. "It is… but I don't want to know about it."

Athrun looked at me. I shrugged.

Waltfeld also asked. "What do you guys think about war? Camp's going to finish two weeks later."

He was looking at Athrun.

"It's too hard to say. I'd rather live without it. That's all," Athrun said.

He looked at me.

"War has too many reasons. I don't know what to say… It's not my place to comment."

He looked at Maple.

"Me too with these two," Maple said. "You're so passionate."

"Well… give or take. My wife says I am too." He laughed.

We were silent. He never laughed so openly before.

Sometimes I thought that maybe I was too passionate. But then again, I thought I was not too much. The passion within me that I thought about, I thought it was something that perhaps did not exist.

Of course, I did not always really realize why that was the case. Either way, it was not my job to tell if he were passionate, but he did seem like it too me.

I thought camp was really cool, but I really was too reluctant to talk to other people. Maybe I was shy, I was too shy. Maple too. Athrun too.

I thought about tomorrow when all the tests would be there. I did not think it would be that tough, but all these things we learned, they were foreign to us, and perhaps that was why we were so tense.

I remembered Athrun blowing the leaves many years ago. I thought it was really cool. Years later it still made sense to me. It was still cool. I thought something was cool about it. People usually blew it in the summer anyway. The cold air outside was cool.

Athrun hung out with me before at warm summer nights too. It was weird. As children we were, all we cared about was the fun. I cared about it too, but… I was starting to think that I wanted to treasure every moment because every moment could be lost at any second.

There were us, and everybody. Maybe in this camp there were only us and there should be everybody. I thought I was too close with myself, or was I too close with just the people around me?

I did not think it mattered. I could not start a conversation with them. I liked them, but there were different interests among us. Most importantly, I could relate to Athrun, Maple and Waltfeld the most. Perhaps, knowing them was good enough on this camping site.

"Luna," Athrun looked at me. "What are you thinking? Time to get back inside and go back to our cabin."

I smiled. "Okay."

I followed his steps as he followed Maple's and Waltfeld's.

Waltfeld's cup of hot drink… I thought it was just hot water.

It was.

 **End of Chapter Eight**

A/N: Please review :)


	9. Paintballing

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 09 + Paintballing

* * *

"So today is the day!" Andrew Waltfeld yelled in front of us. "This is the day when your fun is at! You see, paintball fights begin when you step onto the field and realize what really life and deaths are like… Okay I'm kidding, but please have fun."

"Waltfeld, you go out and own them," Maple said. "I don't know how to play these things."

"Maple! It's normal! No one wants to play in eight o'clock in the morning. It starts about half an hour later, nine a.m. sharp."

"Why are we in uniforms and paintball stuffs now?" Maple asked.

"Because it takes time to get them on!"

"Are you… trying to make us hate it for some reason?" Maple frowned.

Waltfeld smiled. "No… but… you're only young once. It's better to get some life than regretting it later because you weren't crazy enough when you were young."

"…" Maple was really too tired.

Athrun smiled. "I'll try to last longer."

I said. "I… think we better hide."

Waltfeld smiled. "I… thought Athrun is better at paintballing?"

He sighed. "I don't want to play. Last time my friend dragged me to play paintball we played games after games and I was paintballing for eight hours. It got onto my nerves. You see, I don't want to anymore."

"How did they manage?" I asked.

"They got happy."

"Happy?"

"Happy…"

Maple whispered. "It was the day after the last day of school back in elementary school."

"That's quite far away…" I frowned. "I guess we'll just have to play a little and make it like a picnic. I've seen the field. It's big enough."

"Do you want to win?" Waltfeld asked me.

"Not really, but being the first one out is bad. They'll eventually find us anyway, and we'll just get painted," I replied.

Maple sighed. "I don't even want to go in…"

-/-

"You're serious?"

I said. "Yeah, Maple… Get a piece of gum."

She sighed and began chewing. "You know Luna, I really don't like these things."

Later, she smiled. "I like the idea of hiding though."

Athrun frowned. "Loisel, you're creeping me out. Is it that bad?"

"I don't know… I'm having headaches… so I'm grumpy, but you see, I don't like these things… I mean, the size of this field is creeping me out."

We heard something, we stopped talking.

Someone found us.

We ran away.

I screamed and fell onto the ground. I got painted. My left knee hit a sharp rock.

"Are you okay?" Maple asked.

"I think you're okay right?" Athrun asked.

They helped me roll over. There was blood coming out of my knee.

"Oh my goodness…" Maple said. She looked at it and used a handkerchief to wrap it around my knee.

It was hurting me, but slowly it was not.

I looked at them. They got painted as well, and there was no sign of the other team.

I was frowning, but I tried to seem less in pain. "Don't worry, but it's really painful."

Maple smiled. "It should be okay. I highly doubt it would leave a scar… but oh wells."

After a while, Athrun carried me on his back when the staff came. They could only know whether a team was painted, but not if they were injured. That person said people rarely got injured.

That did not help me feel better, so I replied slightly. "Oh I see."

The staff was walking fast in front of us along with Maple rushing to keep up with him. Athrun was walking slower than Maple, but he was very close to her.

"You're… taking care of me," I said to him.

"Well… I want to… Besides, I need to anyway right?"

I lightly smiled. "Yeah… Thanks."

My head was on his back side of the body. I was feeling the warmth.

"Thanks," I said again.

He smiled. "We should spend more time from now on."

I smiled. "Yeah…"

Later, a doctor saw my knee and said I only needed to take a break for a while and it should be fine. It hurt so much because it was my knee and naturally it did. Also, the blood lost was not too great, but it was still good to have not as much blood lost. I felt weird because it hurt so much and now it was okay.

The doctor said. "It was your leg. You can't walk with it, and it was your knee, so it would be very painful. Don't worry."

Waltfeld was really happy to hear this.

"Well… Luna, don't worry. It's going to be fine," he said.

I smiled and said. "Thanks you guys."

The doctor said. "You can walk normally tomorrow, but you have to wait until five or six hours later before you should use your leg again."

I looked at him. "Really?"

"Yeah, it takes time to heal. Most importantly though, so the wound wouldn't be opened again."

"I see…" Maple said. "It should be fine then."

"Yeah…" I said.

Athrun said. "Going back from camp is two days later. Don't worry."

I smiled. "Yeah."

Athrun and Maple stayed with me later on. I got hurt around ten-thirty a.m. and I got back to my cabin at around 7 p.m. because I had to wait for lunch and dinner.

"You really should come back to the cabin," Maple said after I was lying on her bottom bed. "I think it's unsafe there because no one was around."

"Yeah that was what they said too."

"Does it hurt still?"

"It does, but I really can walk now. It just still hurts."

Maple sighed.

But she smiled very quickly. "I think it'll be fine. Don't worry."

"And…" she said continuously. "We'll hopefully be still in contact after camp. I might drop by Hope city and hopefully you'll come to Moon city sometimes."

 **End of Chapter Nine**

A/N: When I fell down and hurt my knee, this is what I did. I don't know if it's the best…


	10. Goodbye, Camp!

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 10 + 'Goodbye, Camp!'

* * *

"So… Luna…" Maple called my name as we were taking pictures with everyone.

I took some pictures earlier of the camp site and throughout our camping days. I loved the sceneries. I thought I saw a deer!

"What?" I answered her.

There were a few people that I wanted to take pictures with. They were some of our classmates and teachers, but I did not think I would be in contact with them at all.

We would be on Socials, and most people we met never talked to us afterwards. It was not like we could have been friends in real life anyway. We tried.

"Have you thought about using an instant camera for some of the pictures?"

"Nah… it's fine. Just keep yours," I replied.

I stepped onto the ground with the leg that was hurt. "I want to take pictures in the commons area."

"Okay." She smiled.

"Athrun…" She turned to Athrun and asked him if he wanted to use her instant camera. I thought he did use it.

I went into the commons area and saw something on the table. It was a hat I lost a few weeks ago. I guessed no one wanted it. I picked it up, took some pictures, and walked outside.

At that time, Waltfeld was there as well.

"Hey Luna!" Waltfeld said. "Picture time! Someone make a 29!"

I went and someone took a picture for us. It was someone I knew as well, but we never talked much.

They all seemed nice enough, but I did hold cameras for them as well.

"I'll give you guys one picture each. I guess adding Waltfeld on Socials is not inappropriate now, huh?" Maple said.

"No one said it was," said both Waltfeld and Athrun.

I almost giggled.

"Maple," I said after I got the picture. "Thanks."

"You know… Luna, I kind of want to meet your friends too. They sound so interesting. And you can meet mine one day. They are cool too."

I smiled.

"Your friends… Athrun told me about them too. They are your friends since really long time ago. I remember… you're younger than me, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm turning fifteen this year."

I smiled. "Thanks for your birthday wishes this summer!"

She smiled. "Happy b-lated birthday, Luna the Leo."

I smiled. "Happy belated birthday too, Maple! Wish I could have said that during your birthday this year, but I did not know you yet. This is the middle of August…"

She smiled. "Yeah… Still time to do back-to-school shopping."

I said. "Yeah, I miss my friends… My friends go to back-to-school shopping with me too."

Just then, Athrun called out to us. "Time to go for the bus!"

We walked to the buses and Athrun and I waved goodbye to Maple.

As we were getting to the bus for Hope city, Athrun sighed. "She brought me a smoothie this summer… I'm in debt again…"

Waltfeld laughed. "Where was your wallet?"

He smiled slightly. "At the cabin."

I smiled. "Well, it was fine. I remember you said you pay her back somehow."

Athrun smiled. "But… the problem is that I always forget my wallet at home. Sometimes I can't even to go the busses because of that. I had to go home for it."

I sighed. "Good luck."

Just as we were getting back to the city, I asked Athrun if Maple would come here and visit.

"Not likely," he said. "She hates traveling. I don't think you've ever seen her around Hope have you?"

I shook my head. "No…"

"It's like… she doesn't want to go somewhere, meet everyone, and then just walk away without keeping in contact. There is the internet, of course, but after that no one talks. That makes her sad. That was the reason," Athrun said.

"Waltfeld…?" I looked at him and was thinking of something.

"She knew him but only by face and name. I heard of him too. Our family's friends know him. We never got the chance to meet him or interact with him, to be honest," Athrun said. "But he is a good person, right? Everyone knows. And we're just becoming friends. By the way, Nicole's family knows him. He's Nicole's distant relative."

Waltfeld coughed. "I'm here. Don't talk about me so openly. I just feel embarrassed."

I smiled and nodded.

"Nicole… was at the mall at that shop. I saw him," I said to him.

"Well… that was Aisha's shop. Waltfeld's wife's," Athrun said.

I nodded. "I remember they said something about it. She travelled somewhere."

Waltfeld nodded. "She'll be in town later today because she got back, but just not in Hope. She's coming from Moon city. Originally it was starting this summer, but she decided to stay with her side of the family at that city until I came back to Hope."

I said. "That's great. I want to meet her."

Athrun smiled.

-/-

I decided not to write in my journal anymore. I could not really get the words right. Maybe later. The most important thing was, I got downstairs and checked how everyone was doing.

I saw Mum singing at the Karaoke machine with them.

I went and got some water.

When I came back, Mum was talking with the girls about something I could not hear because of the Karaoke. There were interesting things about this picture.

I smiled.

I said hi to everyone and they acknowledged me.

I went back upstairs and slept.

To be honest, it was really good. It was the best to stay home.

But… adventure was not bad.

 **End of Chapter Ten**

A/N: Starting next chapter, the story centres on Athrun Zala!


	11. Our Directions

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 11 + Our Directions

* * *

I woke up particularly remembering the sound from an alarm clock my mum bought me years ago.

 _Athrun! Athrun! Wake up, Or Else!_

It was getting louder and louder.

I hated alarms like these. My cell phone was nowhere in sight. _Why?_

I needed to know what I had to do today. I wanted to stay in bed. If it were not urgent, I could stay… I hoped.

I was really tired from yesterday. A lot happened. I came back to town and I was talking to my friends about something.

I felt like an outsider but of course, I had good reasons, so it did not bother me. I was okay, but we stayed up too late. I got to sleep at 3 a.m. in the morning.

I looked down at my slippers and felt a little bit dizzy. It was 9 a.m. in the morning, but people said it was normal wanting more sleep after sleeping late.

As I was brushing my teeth and water was dripping from my hair onto my slippers, I remembered what Maple Loisel said to me back then when we were going into the showering house in that place with only grasshoppers.

 _"_ _Did you like her, Luna, all along?"_

My phone rang. I decided not to get it because it was too far away and I was brushing my teeth. It was not like I could speak clearly anyway.

-/-

Later, after getting myself all dry. I phoned Loisel.

"Did you phone?" I asked.

(Nope, why did you ask?) She asked.

"Okay…" I felt a little bit uneasy. I wanted to talk to someone in the family. Maybe that was why I called her without being sure it was her.

(Hey… Zala…) Maple seemed to have sensed something. (Are you okay?)

"Yeah… Remember what you told me at that time?"

(Yup,) she answered. (You know I don't usually ask you random stuff like that.)

"I liked her all along."

(Great, but… there was Cagalli…)

"Almost, but…"

(…Why did you… and her stop? With Cagalli I mean.)

"Remember we were just at the ice cream shop and somehow some robbers came in from the bank beside it and well…"

(She… nearly died… was there something I don't know?)

"Yeah," I said, feeling like a stupid-case. "She ran to them and… I didn't think they wanted to shoot her until that point. That's why…"

(But… maybe she wanted to protect you…)

"She… just ran in front of me after them… And then she got hurt. We were only kids. We should leave it to the adults…" I said.

"But she said, 'I just wanted to save everyone… that's all. But… I couldn't… I feel powerless.'"

(Maybe… she thought she could, you know. Some people think like that, but we were children, so I agree with you.)

"I guess… that was why I wanted not to be with her, because… I can't accept someone who runs to the guns randomly and expect to live afterwards."

(Athrun…) she said. (Don't worry…)

"And… She was only scared. They shot at the ground. She fainted at that time," I said.

"But she hit her head while falling down."

(So… that was why her head was injured…) Maple said.

-/-

Our divergence of paths began a long long time ago. It was not that long ago, but somehow, it felt like it. I did not really understand them. I liked the Hibikis a lot, and I liked Kira and Cagalli, but they always did things that I did not like.

Maybe I was like my father. I liked everything in a way that made sense to me. They did not. There was too much passion, and I was not passionate.

Sometimes people tell me I was too cold and calculative.

To be honest, I think I was cold but not calculative.

A lot of the things happened very soon after I gotten to know them. I moved away, and they had other friends. Kira was a good friend of mine. He was fun. It was fun to get to know someone like that, but… I was not the type that was fun. I was not fun. I liked that.

Cagalli was less fun. Maybe I was okay with that.

I met Luna at Hope city, and I thought it better ended itself in friendship, because it was better for me to obligate with my family duties…

And at the same time, I thought I really just liked her as a friend.

But of course, I was wrong. Otherwise, I would not have invited her to Camp.

My father was not surprised about my decision after hearing my reasons. Cagalli did something I could not relate to.

I cannot imagine myself spending my entire life with someone I cannot communicate with.

I thought, to everyone, finding someone you could communicate with was not asking too much.

"Father… I don't think this would work out for us. I don't think we should be together," I looked onto the ground. "You understand that right?"

He nodded. "Well… if that were what you liked. It was not like everything was arranged already. Don't worry."

He looked at me, and I looked at him. "I think… You better find your own beliefs in these matters anyway," he smiled. "Just like your mother and I."

I smiled.

Looking back, I did not know how to understand this, but maybe someday I would. I could not understand it. Perhaps it was because… I was the one asking the question.

-/-

(Athrun… Don't worry…) She said.

I looked down onto the ground. "I am not worrying anymore… But… I really don't want to see Kira or Cagalli again. That was why I wanted to stay away from Moon city."

(I don't see them either. They live far away from me. They are at that place even buses can't go.)

I sighed. "I know."

(But… Do you want me to tell anyone? I don't mind…)

I shook my head. "No, it's fine. I told my dad."

She sounded relieved. (That's great!)

I smiled. "Thanks… Really…"

If only… everything could have turned out better… I meant… I got really confused by my decision. Maybe… I did not know… But maybe… I won't regret it. And maybe… it was correct.

Because… these decisions were personal… And I personally decided…

So… it should be okay…

 **End of Chapter Eleven**

A/N:

Writing this chapter was very interesting. The part from Cagalli was from SEED and Destiny.

Remember that scene in some episodes when the battle between ZAFT and ORB was initially intervened by Archangel in Destiny?

Well… it was pretty much this situation, except that in this fanfiction, Cagalli actually got hurt a little, but she did not get hurt in the show.

I guess this is Fanfiction still. I personally think it was incorrect for Cagalli and Kira to intervene battles like this.

And so I wrote this for myself to make it clear to myself even, that it was better for her to just reject Yuna in the first place, and try to convince everyone that they should go on a path that less people would get hurt.


	12. Together

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 12 + Together

* * *

Today I was helping out with Lunamaria's grocery. We were at the supermarket at the mall that was close to our houses. To be honest, it was interesting.

I enjoyed helping out my mother when she was around. When I was helping with Luna, I felt as if I was with my mum again. But of course, it was only the sensation as if she was still alive.

I looked at her. She was reading that shopping list. "Eggs…celeries, onions, yams, yogurt… and chips."

She looked at me. "I think we're finished shopping. You're carrying it with me back home."

After we paid for the food, we were walking out of the mall.

"You know Athrun, thanks for shopping with me."

"I didn't know you liked yam. Most people liked potatoes."

"Oh! I like potatoes too, but same as yam. You know, I just wanted some variation."

I smiled.

I saw Nicole far away.

Lunamaria saw him too. "Hey Nicole! You're always wandering in the mall!"

 _Always…_

"What…?" Nicole said.

I thought… he was on a date today. _This person_ was… getting nervous.

"I… was heading home from talking to Andrew Waltfeld. As you can tell, we have a brotherly love and I didn't want you think that I was coming in between his wife and him."

Luna made a confused expression. "Really?"

I coughed and half smiled. "Just let him be… I doubt it would be something we really need to know about."

Luna smiled. "That's true, but… what are you talking about? I meant to ask him about how come he never buys anything."

"…"

Both Nicole and I were speechless.

We both fake laughed.

"So… well, I'll think more about it. I think we better go home now. I need to cook dinner," She said. "Athrun, are you coming?"

I rushed to her. She was walking away from us.

I looked back and waved goodbye. Nicole and I were both sweating with a big drop on our heads.

He was having a funny smile as he walked away.

As we were walking back, I talked to her.

"Do you think he was… dating someone?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Lacus."

 _It was that obvious…_

"I thought everyone knew. You know, they are always together whenever they are around each other. I always see them together," she said. "But I kept on thinking why he always had nothing with him when he walked the mall. I mean… doesn't he buy anything?"

"Yeah…"

 _I always forgot my wallet…_

"Maybe, he forgot his wallet," I said. "But… maybe he was just shopping with some other people."

"Maybe he was shopping with Lacus and she bought stuff but he didn't," she said.

I coughed. "Yeah…"

She looked at me. "But you know, it's really obvious. He doesn't need to hide it. Is he hiding it?"

"I don't know… I… don't think we should go too deep into it."

"That's true… but… I think everyone can tell. It must be something difficult. Nicole and Lacus must be shy," she smiled. "I guess… maybe they'll tell everyone later."

I smiled too. "They are … people I sometimes cannot relate to."

"Really?"

"Because… there are things they don't tell people. People cannot relate to the unknown, right? And so… That was how it was. But I don't hate them. My situations are different, but if I were them, I might choose to hide it," I said.

"I wish… everything is easier. Maybe, they really are shy. You know, it's really just that obvious."

I smiled. "But… I don't think they are hiding it."

"But…?"

"They just don't talk about it," I said.

"That's true… but it feels like it," she said. "There are a lot of things I don't want to talk about too…"

Luna seemed sad.

"Yeah, me too."

We walked for a while without talking to each other.

"You know," I said. "You can tell me a little bit, but not everything. I'll tell you a little bit too."

"I… think I will. Looking back, I told you a lot of things too, right? But… There are still things I don't want to talk about," she said. "I don't really want to because it hurts… if I told anyone. I wish… Meyrin is here, but…"

"I wish my mum is here too. You want to see your mum too right? And your dad…" I frowned.

"They… really did love me. Even my father, but for him to… accept us… is much too difficult. You remember? I told you this, he misses my mum, and I looked so much like her… he cannot accept it. And so we're at his sister's house…" Luna said.

She was looking down onto the ground.

"I know…" I looked at her. We did not speak until we started cooking dinner that day.

Later when I got back home, it was around 9 p.m. The phone rang. It was Maple.

"Maple…? Why now?"

(Just checking on you…) she said. (Are you okay?)

"Yeah… I'm okay… I think I'll tell her about Cagalli, just to be fair. Even though she doesn't really have to know. I think that can help her move on, from her own troubles," I said.

(You… if you want, but… I think you'll eventually tell her if not now. It's not really something you need to worry about too much is it? But… you are stubborn and so you think this is a really really bad thing. To her, maybe it was different, because… there are a lot of things going on too, in her life. Besides, you two were young, how can you be like… _that_ committed?)

"I know, but… I want to share that part of myself with her," I said.

She seemed to have smiled. (That's good.)

"Thanks."

(Thank-you too, for helping me getting back onto my feet, once upon a time.)

"Maple…"

(Zala… Don't worry too much,) she said.

 **End of Chapter Twelve**

A/N:

I don't know how would the readers react to the story so far. I feel like I criticised Cagalli Yula Atha too much, but I have only been putting what happened in the show into this fanfiction.

There was a battle. And she just rushed out, and… in this story, she got hurt because Kira was not able to protect her. And so I think, this aspect of Cagalli's personality is what really comes between her and Athrun.


	13. Her troubles

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 13 + Her troubles

* * *

I came home today. School started again. It was the first week after school started. I was talking to Luna last night. It was Sunday.

She was not talking to me on the phone. She was at my house.

She told me again, that her aunt was her father's sister, and that her aunt had her own problems.

What happened was Luna was telling her to find her own happiness and stop being so responsible. She was not her mum after all, but her aunt broke down in crying.

Luna's actual mother was a person who had a weak heart for some reason, and she was not supposed to have another baby, but she did. But her heart survived, and she was healthy for some years. Then, for some reason, she had a heart failure.

Her father could not take it and ran away. Luna and Meyrin went to their aunt's house. She took care of them. Then, Meyrin got hurt.

I knew the part that Luna was living with her aunt and that Meyrin got hurt. I also knew that Luna's mother died of heart failure, but not with this detail. I never thought of why her aunt was alone and did not have any child of her own.

She told me this yesterday.

It felt weird. As I was getting over what happened to Cagalli and I, Lunamaria was also suffering from if she could make her aunt happy. She felt like a burden, and I felt like a burden to her.

I thought… I knew how these situations appeared to others already, but knowing what her aunt was feeling… and knowing that she was married but she was never in front of us with her husband made me realized something.

Maybe if we did feel like a burden, we were not. If we were, no one would be around. I did not think Luna was a burden because of what happened.

Her aunt was married and had a husband. She had a marriage ring in her room on display. They were together, but… they could not get it together. They were not always fighting, but the love did not felt strong enough.

They loved passionately before marriage. After getting married, they could not have that passion.

There was love, but there was no passion, and they could not be together. I could not understand it, but their relationship did make sense to me.

Sometimes, I liked a friend, but we could not be friends because we could not relate any longer.

I think… they could not relate.

Lunamaria asked the same question, and her aunt said it was like that. They could not relate, but… they were best friends for a long time. It was like… a connection was lost but there was love and there was common interest.

She could not have a child with him because their marriage was so unstable. They were committed, but they could not be truly together. There was love, but it was not enough.

Luna was sad.

But… she did not blame herself or Meyrin any longer.

I thought… I would not blame her either.

I never did, because her aunt was always happy around her.

 **End of Chapter Thirteen**


	14. His comment

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 14 + His comment

* * *

In the upcoming Friday, Luna and I decided to have another talk.

At school, I was preparing to leave and Rusty decided to ask how I was doing.

"Athrun… dear, tell me what's wrong with your day. You look very stressed," he said.

Someone else noticed too.

"Yeah Athrun, tell me tell me tell us," said Yzak.

There was a faint grin as well as a frown of worrying on Yzak's face.

He was at the bench where he liked to sit when they had gatherings in school. That was, if they got this spot. Competition was worrying him because he liked the view so much.

"It's nothing," I frowned.

I started walking away from them.

"See ya," I said lightly.

As I got home, I saw Luna waiting at my front door.

"Hey…" She said.

She was looking down onto the ground a bit.

I smiled.

"Hey," I said, pulling her into my house as I put my keys away from opening the door.

We sat down as she sat next to me.

"Everything's going to be okay, okay?" I said.

"But… I am worried. My aunt… she… doesn't seem to be happy. It's not about Meyrin and me anymore, I know. But… how come her marriage became like this? I feel so worried about her."

I looked at her but she was looking away.

"It was because… things happen sometimes. I'm not saying just let it be, but do you know a solution?" I asked. "You don't, do you?"

"No…" she said weakly.

"It's her choice to stay with him, and it's not too bad. It's just that… their relationship is unstable. If she chose to do that… there is nothing we can do. They are committed, aren't they? I think that is fine… because there is really no solution. Because there is no solution, I just think we should let it be. There is no another him for her. That is why, they are together," I said.

"Athrun…" A tear or two fell from her eyes.

"Are you okay?" I said.

She nodded. She wiped her tears.

"I'm sorry. I know it too, but… I couldn't get over the sadness…" She shook her head.

"It's fine."

"You are sad too, right? Because of your mother…" she said.

"Yeah," I said. "I… feel sad."

At that moment, I felt like talking about her death.

"Her brain tumour was… difficult to be treated, and she just faded away," I said. "That's why I didn't get any younger siblings. She realized she had headaches when I was around one, then… it's just like that."

"Yeah… Just like me," she had a sad smile on her face.

"Not exactly… What happened to your mum's heart? You did not explain. It wasn't Meyrin though…"

"It wasn't. It was just out of the blue. Somehow," she frowned. "I don't understand what happened."

"That was why you treasure your family so much… I do too…" I said.

She smiled. "I do treasure them…"

Tears fell from her eyes again.

I smiled. "I do too. Meyrin will get better won't she? Isn't she opening her eyes now?"

She nodded. She closed her eyes.

I felt sad, but Meyrin should be fine. I could tell Luna was conflicted with sadness and happiness.

After a while, she asked. "You treasure your family too. Don't you? You don't have that many of them as I."

There was pain in her eyes.

"I think… it would be the same as you," I said, and I was also in pain. "I treasure them. I treasure my father, most importantly."

"I'm in pain, but it was only because I cared. I felt sad because I cannot control myself from caring. There is… too much that I cared… somehow I come to think this way," she said. "But if I don't care… I cannot accept myself feeling this way."

"I think… we just want to stop feeling pain," I said. "Pain is painful. No matter how we look at it. This pain… hurts so much."

She nodded, and she grew silent.

"I saw someone getting hurt in front of me," I said. "Physically, and… I felt so sad. I couldn't accept it. I got scared, but… she ran to the people who hurt her. That was the point when I realized I could not relate to her. This is life right? But it is so painful. I wish her well, but… I couldn't help it but to think that I needed to walk away. She shouldn't have done that. I really cannot relate to her."

She hugged me.

"Athrun…"

I hugged her too.

She was warm.

After a while, I finally said. "Do you want to cook something with me? We can eat something before you go home."

She nodded with a smile.

We went into the kitchen.

There was not a lot that was in my refrigerator. Like always, I tried to manage. Like always, she could actually cook. What we had was arbitrary. The most important thing was we had something to eat. It was fun.

Talking to her made me realize that not just me, but her, but Yzak, but Rusty, they all had their own problems. It felt… weird.

Rusty had a problem of giving money away to his friends when they played Big 2.

When Yzak drank too much sugary drinks, he lost control.

Nicole hid his miraculously beautiful girlfriend. Dearka never did anything except for school or for his mum in mopping the floor. And I… was not better, but not worse.

But… my problems were here.

And so I tried, as they did.

As they had fun, as I did.

As I suffered, as they did, as well.

 **End of Chapter Fourteen**

A/N: Please Review!


	15. Cagalli Hibiki

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 15 + Cagalli Hibiki

* * *

 _It was early afternoon that I arrived at their house, my best friends in childhood._

 _"Athrun…!" Yelled Kira, as he was waving at me from a distance. I just got off the car that the Hibiki sent for me._

 _I smiled. "Kira!"_

 _I waved as well._

 _"You have to see this," he said. "Cagalli is in a dress!"_

 _I was excited and happy. I knew I was supposed to feel excited and happy for her wearing a dress, but I was only excited and happy that they still accepted me as a friend._

 _Maybe…at that time, I only wanted friends, or someone that I decided to forget for the time being…_

 _As we went up by the spiral stairs of the house, we eventually got to Cagalli's bedroom._

 _Cagalli came out, and she…was not wearing a dress._

 _"Kira!" She blushed, knowing what her little brother had in mind._

 _Kira just pushed me and went down the stairs again._

 _"Hey…" Cagalli approached me, still blushing._

 _"Hey," I replied._

 _"Hey!" Kira screamed behind me._

 _"What?" I looked back and saw Kira again._

 _He said. "This reminded me. A friend of mine told me that there's an ice cream shop downtown. We should totally try!"_

 _"Erm…" Cagalli made a sound._

 _I smiled. "Why not?"_

 _"Kira, was it the ice cream shop you told me with that babe?"_

 _"Actually no, that babe was from the other ice cream shop," he said._

 _As we walked towards the ice cream shop, I noticed that building next to it. It was a tall, red bank._

 _I looked from the ice cream shop. Its blue surprisingly suited the red._

 _After getting inside, I began a conversation with Cagalli._

 _"Hey, Cagalli…" I looked at her. She was really beautiful. I was supposed to marry her. Father ordered it. Do I love her though? I think maybe I can try eventually. "What flavour do you have in mind?"_

 _She gave it some thought. "Maybe…watermelon."_

 _"Really…? I like…vanilla."_

 _She smiled. "I like vanilla, too, but…it's just not me. I guess vanilla is more you!"_

 _I thought,_ Maybe…I would fall in love with her before 'eventually.'

 _Just then, the alarm from the bank next to us was activated._

 _"What…?" I said._

 _Some men in masks rushed into the store._

 _They rushed to Cagalli, wanting to take her hostage. I tried to save her, but that man kicked me away. As he pointed the gun at me to shoot, Cagalli blocked the bullet._

 _"CAGALI! NOOOOOOOOOO!"_

 _I screamed._

 _At that time, it was too late._

 _-/-_

 _I was in shock for a while. I could not help it but to blame myself. It felt weird. I thought she was in too much pain. Somehow, I managed to talk to someone, and he told me I was in pain as well._

 _"She hit her head while falling down. That is why she is unconscious now. You see, don't worry. You need to worry about yourself. You got too scared. It's been a few days now, three? I think? But you're still not talking," he said. He was trying to acknowledge me. Somehow, it felt like that._

 _"She… tried to save everyone, so she ran to them… Don't blame yourself."_

 _I said. "But… I thought it was my fault."_

 _He shook his head. "No, she… was running to them. That was what happened. Everyone in the store saw it. She was a child. Children do foolish things like these I supposed, so neither of you were in trouble…"_

 _He asked. "Remember? I think you were so scared that you forgot what happened…"_

 _I was nodding, and I was crying. "I remember."_

 _"Calm down, okay? You can make yourself feel better by encouraging yourself to ask the adults around you. It's not your fault. Don't worry," he said. "You can ask me more too. We'll be meeting more a little. Maybe until October even, if you wanted, but it should be fine, right?" He asked again._

 _I nodded._

-/-

Later, I heard that Cagalli just wanted to take the people on by herself. It was… quite surprising.

We were children. These things kids could not do. That was something I could not even argue for, for myself. Even at that time, I wanted to leave these sorts of things for adults.

To be honest, this was not something that adults even wanted to challenge.

I was slowly starting to realize that I could not be with her. Of course, I did not think she liked me either.

It was more like… we were just friends. Her brother was her friend, and my friend. Her brother was my best friend, but… I thought I could learn to let go.

I did not know how to make everything into making senses. I guessed the shows on TV prepared me not to be too scared, but… seeing her falling down scared me… so much.

Nobody else got hurt.

The police came and it was easy. I did not know what happened, but everything was okay. I heard that they never wanted to hurt anyone to begin with.

I felt… sad, because I felt we could not be friends anymore.

I talked to my father very frequently after the incident.

I was starting to realize H.O.P.E. was where I should be. I should be there. The city of Hope.

Moon city had an odd sound to it. I felt uneasy. It was too much for me. Before I went back to H.O.P.E., I went to White city. Father said I needed to cool down.

I continued talking to that kind man until summer ended. Apparently he thought I lived in Moon city. Anyway, I got transferred to H.O.P.E., so I could continue to feel better from that scary event in my life.

It was a very scary event. They were kind. Eventually, I stopped seeing them. I could not help but to feel absolutely grateful. They were good people.

Today, I felt grateful that I existed.

 **End of Chapter Fifteen**

 **Author's Notes:**

Cagalli screamed during the battle in Heliopolus. If it weren't for Kira, she would have been dead.

I'm only putting that situation into this event. I guess… what I'm trying to say is… I tried to write her as she is, and this is her.


	16. Confrontations

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 16 + Confrontations

* * *

"Your… pictures from childhood…" Luna echoed her words.

I smiled. "I moved here a little bit later than you. I got a life back then, but not too much."

She looked at some of these pictures. We were in my living room.

"This is your mum!" She exclaimed. "And Maple is so small!"

She smiled.

I nodded. "Erm… that was family. Let me show you some of my friends there. I'm still in contact with some of them."

She looked at them. "I usually don't see people with orange hair… There are so many of them."

I smiled. "Yeah, here there is only Rusty. But… of course, there are tons at Moon City, for some reason."

She looked at them. "Are these two twins?" She looked at Kira and Cagalli.

"Yeah, they were my childhood friends. They were always fun, I guess. But I was no fun."

"Does…" She seemed to have picked up something from my tone. "Maple know about them?"

She began looking for Maple in some of the pictures.

"She was too young. She was two years younger than me. I knew them when I was very little."

"Oh…" She looked at Cagalli. "I thought I saw her somewhere…"

"It was… someone… someone who was a great doctor was her great grandfather. Because of that, you probably saw his picture," I smiled.

"Dr. Hibiki…?"

"Yeah, great geneticists in the family."

"Interesting…"

"I… wanted to tell you a bit between me and Cagalli… We… were friends, and my father said maybe she'll be my potential partner in life, and so… I thought I should, but then… I realized I couldn't because Cagalli and I don't agree on the same things," I said. "Because of that, if you wanted, I'll tell you how I found out, but it would be scary."

She nodded. "Tell me."

I smiled a little.

I told her what happened.

Of course, Cagalli and I never really were in love with each another. I made sure it was nothing like that before I stopped wanting to go back to Moon City. It was weird having something ending like that… but… I wished I was not young, so I was not mingled in something like that.

I wished… I was not stupid.

It was stupid because… I wanted to be with Lunamaria.

Looking at Lunamaria now, I did not think I would tell Luna this. Maybe one day.

"I feel bad, because… I had some feelings for you… but… we had nothing at that point, so I thought…" I said, having trouble finishing the sentence. "Maybe I should back away because… Maybe it was the better thing. Maybe I was young, maybe I was too afraid. Maybe… that was just how it went."

At one point, I thought, I was asking for forgiveness, but I knew it was not like that.

I was… asking for love.

It was something that, I did not know, how to ask for, because I felt, as if, I should not ask for it.

She was holding my hand, by her side. Somehow, I felt her warmth.

 **End of Chapter Sixteen**

 _Author's Notes:_

 _During days when I don't feel so well, I feel so happy, to be writing chapters around 500 words. Anyway, cheers, and always be._


	17. Knowing his friends

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 17 + Knowing his friends

* * *

Almost half of a year later, it was March the following year.

School would end in another two or three months.

When the snow hit a month or so before, the snowflakes were icy and were not melting until they got onto my jacket.

"Hey, Luna," I said to that girl in purple jacket. She was sitting on the park bench. She looked at me. She smiled.

"Athrun!" She said.

It was a sunny but cold day. She seemed quite easy with herself.

I felt nervous. I did not want her to know about my friends…

"Erm… I guess we better get going," I said. "Have you been waiting here for long?"

"It doesn't matter," she said. "You're early."

I smiled. "Yeah…"

She looked at me. "What are your friends like? You never told me anything about them."

I did not want to tell her.

"They are like… guys, you know. Guys like to … study … I mean… yeah, they actually like to study."

"Really? A lot of people like to study if they wanted to go to university," she said. "I want to go there too. Do you like studying?"

I did not want to tell her about them.

"Erm… Yeah, I want to study more a little," I said.

I did not want to tell her about them.

"They… let me tell you about Miguel. He's into fashion. Like… he wanted to be a professional photographer, but his father wanted him to be something else. Something with a stable income."

 _They are too cool…!_

"Rusty wanted to get into Showbiz. He thought he could make it… But… He's no good in acting. Maybe in voice acting, but he wanted to be an actor."

 _I hate them…!_

"Yzak is a … sad person. He is … well… really nice inside, but really rigid outside. He could never change… He's working on it."

"They're… interesting. But… why a school like ours if they wanted these? For Miguel and Rusty I mean," she said.

"I don't think they are that serious. But… It's still something that comes to their minds when they think about career choices. They haven't thought about anything. Their parents told them they just need to be university ready, so they will be," I said. "I'm… like them too. But… I think I want to study more."

She smiled. "Me too."

I continued on. "Dearka is like… a child, Dearka said. Basically, he's lazy like one, so… I don't know how to argue about it. And Nicole… I think he has issues, I mean just show off Lacus."

"I think so too," she said. "But Dearka finishes things very fast. Is he really that lazy?"

I smiled. "Yeah, but… he doesn't like dragging anything on for too long. That's why."

"He doesn't?" Luna asked. "It kinda makes sense I guess. Do you like to finish things fast sometimes? _That_ fast?"

"No…" I shook my head. "But he _likes it_ that fast. It doesn't make sense to me either, but… Yeah. The quality is good anyway."

She nodded. "I can't believe it's natural for that…"

I smiled. "Yeah, it's really _unnatural_."

She looked at me, feeling sad a little, but smiling, looked away then looked back to me.

Finally, she said. "Thanks for making me feel less nervous. My friends are interesting too. I'll introduce you to them."

I smiled, nodding.

A cat jumped onto the ground in front of us then jumped away very quickly.

Luna looked surprised.

She said. "That cat is cute."

"Do you want a cat?"

She shook her head. "No."

"It's cute though," I said.

She nodded, smiling. "But … I don't think I'll do a good job in raising one."

I laughed. "You are going to 'raise' one?"

She seemed unhappy. "Well, I need to take really good care of it!"

My face softened. "I see…"

"Besides, I'm taking care of the sunflowers in the garden already. I wonder… if the sunflowers will bloom nicely this year."

I told her. "I think… the guys actually like sunflowers…"

-/-

Eventually when we finally got to my house, I introduced her to the living room. In it, the worst scenario of Yzak appeared.

He was screaming at Rusty. "NOO, I'm NOT jealous that he GOT a GIRLFRIEND!"

Rusty was just laughing.

She seemed more nervous.

Then, Nicole butted in.

"Guess what?! I'm stealing Athrun's and Yzak's THUNDERS, I'm dating LACUS CLYNE!"

"Noooooo! You don't!" Yzak screamed.

Dearka patted Yzak on his shoulder. "They really are dating you know… Everyone knows already. There is no thunder. Yzak, don't tell me you didn't know…"

Yzak was unhappy. Then, they saw Luna and me.

Luna nodded at them.

Nicole waved, telling Luna to sit somewhere on the sofa.

"We'll just be having fun like normally, just look at how we play with Athrun… okay?" Nicole said. "I'm happy today because I finally broke the silence." He was smiling.

Luna nodded. I was holding her hand. She seemed really nervous.

Rusty looked at her. He nodded his head. "Hi, I'm Rusty. Nice meeting you."

She nodded as well. "Hi."

Rusty said. "We are just talking about something. Yzak is still not having any girlfriend yet. We all dated but he hasn't. He got turned down too much. Only his mum said yes so far."

Luna seemed worried. "That's too bad."

Rusty nodded. "We felt bad for him, and Nicole just told everyone that he's dating Lacus Clyne. It's really sad for Yzak today, because it was the first time Athrun brought a girl to introduce to us."

Rusty said. "But of course, it took Nicole that long to tell us about Lacus. We are looking forward to seeing him bringing her to their own wedding. We are betting on that they will never—"

Someone covered his mouth and he stopped talking. That person said. "I'm Dearka. Don't worry too much." He fake laughed.

Luna fake laughed as well. "It was… sad about something…"

She shut up somehow.

I was still holding her hand and she did not seem as nervous.

She looked at me and smiled.

That day, she somehow got to know them. After an hour or so, we said good bye. On our way back to Luna's house, Luna put her head onto my shoulder.

 **End of Chapter Seventeen**


	18. The fun

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 18 + The fun

* * *

A few days later, Lunamaria and I went to the mall to buy something. It happened that I got the time.

"Thank you for coming with me. I was trying to think of something for a class project. Maybe this time, we'll do a poster. I'm buying them now because I could use them if we decided to do the other option," Lunamaria said.

"What's the other option?" I asked.

"We put it into a booklet," she said. "I don't really like the booklet idea, so I'm just buying coloured papers to see if it works. My teammates are saying maybe I should buy the poster paper too, but we still haven't decided… But… Oh wells."

"What colour are you buying?" I asked.

I remembered doing that Science project last year.

I thought I did the booklet. Rusty for some reason had a good time with it. But Yzak was not happy. Dearka felt very happy that he did not have to do arts and craft.

Yzak wanted to destroy it because the colour was silver.

"I want to buy red… but… I wear a lot of red already… I don't want to see red for a while. They say orange," she said.

She smiled.

"What?" I asked.

I was still thinking about the silver booklet.

"Orange doesn't suit me," she showed a sad smile. "It suits them more."

I sighed. "I think… it'll be okay. Do you know what you do yet?"

"Well…" she said. "There are four parts, and I'll do the one that was about the general picture of the ecosystem. They'll do decomposition in nature, weather, and… roles of living things."

I frowned. "I didn't do that last year. I did some other topic, not the ecosystem. We did ocean science, I did…" I tried to think as quickly as possible. "Deep sea science…" _I cannot remember the correct terms…_

I looked at her.

She smiled. "I know that topic. We studied a little about these things before the project. I don't remember the correct term either… But… it's fine. We won't be ecosystem people right?"

I nodded. "Our booklet was silver."

"Is it to match the sea?"

"No… it was… Yzak's hair…" I said. "And Rusty joked that we did the sky instead."

There was a big sweat drop on her head.

She looked over there. "Hey… that's Yzak right?"

I looked. I nodded.

"What is he doing?" She asked.

 _He was… with Dearka, and… he tried talking to a girl, but she walked away very quickly._

"Athrun?" She looked at me and asked.

"Erm… I think he's trying to copy Rusty, picking up girls at the mall."

"Really…? He… doesn't know that… some girls don't like to be picked up from malls?" She asked.

"I…" _did not know that._ "I… don't know about him…"

"Usually girls don't get picked in the mall because they like to get to know people first," she said.

"I'll tell him later," I said, and _everyone._

"But… is he pulling a prank?" She asked.

"No…" I did not know what to say.

"Oh… he can get a girl very easily can't he? Everyone wants to date now… but people usually are scared of strangers in malls."

I nodded. "He has issues… his personality scares girls away…"

"Does he know about that?"

I nodded. "He knows… but… he can't change right now. It's too much… I think that was why he's here…"

She nodded.

I pulled her to the other direction. "We're walking this way anyway."

Then, I saw Lacus and Nicole.

Nicole greeted us. He seemed happier than usual.

"Hi," Luna said.

Lacus greeted us too.

We were walking fast away from Yzak. We waved good bye to them.

Looking at the poster papers, my head was sweating.

"Don't be too nervous," Luna said. "I think I just embarrassed you. Sorry…"

I smiled. "No… I just… erm… don't know what to feel. It's not that bad is it? In the mall?"

"Well…" she said. "I just get scared because I didn't know that person, but if you knew a girl, I mean if he knew a girl, he could give it a try. The point is he's a stranger to the girls, you know what I mean?"

I started to calm down. "I see…"

I coughed. "I thought so too."

"My school project is a mess sometimes," she said.

"Why?"

"Cuz I'm always the one getting the material. I don't work with these classmates often but I feel annoyed. The problem is they didn't even want to make it official what we're doing. This feels pathetic."

I frowned with a smile. "I think it's okay… I mean… you could give it to your classmates, right? It's cheap, so they don't have to pay more, but let them have the paper."

She sighed. "I just wish we decided already. I think they're leaving it until last minute. Anyway… I want the poster."

"Why?" I asked.

"It's… easier. I don't want to bother with it too much," she said. "Because… how should I put this… It's for science, I don't want to put a lot of effort into something that won't be graded."

She continued. "I'm having some frustration in handling with my classmates already. I don't want to spend too much time doing something that I don't feel like doing. It's too tiring."

I smiled. I frowned. It was both.

"Just do what you like… Are they friends?" I asked.

"Not that close, but… I think they don't like one another," she said.

"I feel bad for you."

"Thanks."

 **End of Chapter Eighteen**

Author's Notes:

For some reason, after I watched the theatre episodes of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny, I kept on thinking Yzak's the jealous type… From big forehead competition to chess competitions, he keep on losing to Athrun. Anyway… It's interesting.


	19. Knowing her friends

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 19 + Knowing her friends

* * *

Sitting in the park, I was not feeling quite as uneasy as I thought it would be.

There were her friends. We were supposed to be meeting them with me today. I liked the playground where we were at. I liked the Spring's breeze.

There were two girls sitting on the stairs of the playthings there.

There was a girl at the highest point, where the children began sliding onto the slide. There was no child at that time.

A blonde boy was standing against a pole for steadying the swings. He was playing with his cell phone. Vino and Yolant and Shinn, whom I knew were sitting on a bench, just like Lunamaria and I.

A Burnette boy was coming into sight.

"Hey Chase!" Luna waved at him.

He smiled with his black T-shirt.

After he settled down, she introduced her friends to me.

"There are Michelle and Jessica. They are studious people. They want to be nurses," she said.

"Hi."

"Hi."

I smiled. For some reason, I felt like I met twins.

"That's Catherine."

That girl at the highest point waved.

"Hi," I said.

"Erm… right now, we don't see her often because she's always with her boyfriend… Her boyfriend is alive. No questions asked. They are two love birds right now…" She said awkwardly.

She continued to the blonde. "This is Rey. He … is a family friend. We are distantly related by marriage. Anyway… His distant uncle has a sister who married our distant aunt's son. I guess… that would be how we like to put it… It's not that distant though, but we did grow up together."

I smiled at him.

 _I think I know who that uncle is… They are not related… right? But… she said it's not as unrelated as it seems… That man at the supermarket…_

She pointed to another person. "This is Yolant! He's the party spirit! We love him… Kinda…"

Then, she pointed to some other people. "This is Vino and Shinn. They like computers. Well… I always see them playing video games together. Shinn… he also likes to play sports. Vino builds things at home."

Shinn smiled a little. "I'm in the background."

Chase said. "I'm not in the background." He was smiling.

Luna looked at him. "He's my good friend from film watching. We used to watch films."

I smiled at him. "Hi."

We talked more, me and these people.

I really liked them. They seemed nice. I knew Vino, Yolant, and Shinn from somewhere else. I did not quite remember, I think it was when I was with my friends. We saw them at the bowling ally. I… did not really talk to them. Instead, Rusty did. I think he was friend with Yolant.

It was fun. As it was getting to 4 o'clock, we walked away.

Luna and I were going somewhere for dinner. We started talking.

"Did you… like my friends? They are more school oriented."

I nodded. "Yeah, I liked them. But I don't really know them… you know what I mean?"

She smiled a little. "I didn't know your friends either, so it was the same, and I guess that was good. I couldn't believe they all came!"

I smiled. "All my friends came too. And they were comical."

"yeah…" she sighed. "That was why you pulled me away, but… Nicole and Lacus…" She sighed again. "I feel weird."

"Why?"

"Cuz… they are mysterious… I feel so weird. People are usually not so mysterious. I mean, what century is this?" Luna asked. "It's weirder than weird…"

I nodded. "I know it… too…"

Luna asked. "Have you decided what you'll be?"

I nodded. "I want to be an engineer."

"What kind?"

"An electrical engineer."

 _I know I don't look like it…_

Luna awkwardly smiled. "I don't look like a business woman… but I want to get into administration. Like business administration… "

"Were your parents in business?" I asked.

"Yeah, they were. They were in sales though."

I nodded. "My father was an electrical engineer."

She smiled. "And your mother…?"

"She was in business, but… I don't really know what job did she have."

I looked at her. "I don't know what to be…"

"I… think we'll get to the answer eventually."

I smiled. "Yeah."

After we got to the food place, we began eating. I liked the food there. A lot of the people went there too, the people at school. I began to realize I did not really know what I wanted to be.

I looked at the food, and I thought that maybe it would be better if we cooked next time.

"I liked the soup," Luna said.

"Really?" I asked.

I did not like the soup any more.

I smiled.

"Who were you the closest to in your friends?"

She answered. "It was Catherine."

"Why?"

"Because… We are interested in similar things," she said. "Aren't you guys?"

I nodded.

She asked. "Who are you the closest to?"

"I'm the closest to Yzak and Dearka," I answered. "They are good people…"

She smiled. "I didn't say they weren't. Oh so did you know they were picking up girls from the mall?"

I coughed. "They were unsuccessful, so 'at' not 'from'. They were not successful… I didn't know. Rusty mentioned it though."

She seemed troubled. "Picking up girls this way is definitely not easy."

I smiled awkwardly. "I know…"

I looked at her still, but she already started eating the noodles again.

I began eating soon. Eventually, we walked away from the store because we had our dinner.

I kept on thinking maybe we needed some more time to know more about each other.

I… did not know how to be around her sometimes. If I get to know her, I would know how to behave better. Believing that, I started thinking where we should go on a date later on…

 **End of Chapter Nineteen**

 _Author's notes_ : Luna's friends… I think there are guys as well as girls, for some reasons. She's very open minded. She likes to interact with people and get to know them, I guess. Anyway, I think these characters are really cool. I kept on thinking Rau Le Cruset is a weird uncle of Rey. Cheers.


	20. Promise

**Fanfic Title + H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
** Written by Termony

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own any part of Gundam SEED or Gundam SEED Destiny.**

Chapter 20 + Promise

* * *

It was spring again.

We sat next to the building where the students went for food in the university.

We were at the local university. It was called the University of the City of Hope. So to speak, a lot universities were named after their locations in the country of Earth, our country.

"It's sunny!" She exclaimed.

A few years had passed since we met our friends and we were in university studying things we should be studying for. I was in fourth year, university, and now Luna was in her third year, university.

I was in electrical engineering in applied sciences. I was about to graduate and had my Bachelor's degree. Luna was studying in business management with a minor in English.

"My father… was so happy that Meyrin got better!" Luna said. "I'm so happy! Meyrin can go to university now!"

I smiled. "I was happy to see Meyrin doing so well in school but… then she got sick again with the flu."

She frowned. "She… got sick with something else again afterwards… but oh wells. She's all better. She can do something now, finally, but she had fun homeschooling."

I smiled. "Yeah… I… want to show her around here too, in the summer. It's a few years later, but I hope she'll like it. Older people come to universities too. Like, not everyone comes at age 18."

She smiled.

I said. "Maple will meet her too I guess, she comes here. She studies philosophy… Meyrin wants to study… music, right?"

She nodded. "Maple likes to argue… hah."

"Maple got into troubles sometimes awhile back last year."

"I remember…" She said. "Maple's okay now right?"

"She's fine, she just got a little bit annoyed by the classmates who like to argue more than her."

She sighed.

"She likes to do one thing. Argue. Then… Argue, but then… she's not that good socializing," she said.

She continued. "I think if she learned more and spend time with her classmates she would be okay, but… she wants time off, like alone time more than constant studying… so it's a problem…"

I smiled. "Those people are quite friendly. I hope she'll learn to argue and study more. But she said they don't study that much either, but they want to be always thinking about studying. That's their way of having fun."

She smiled. "I'm constantly thinking about fiction. I like English."

I smiled. "I'm not that mechanical." _It was a lie._

She smiled. "I'm bossy."

I smiled. "I can't tell if Yzak were an economist at heart. Or Rusty, but he also studies music. That is his minor though."

She smiled. "I can tell Catherine is in film."

I frowned. "But Chase is in finance. Minor music too right?"

"Yeah, I thought he would be in film too, because he liked it in high school," she said. "Shinn is in film, and he's minor in acting… he … seems more like something else… Vino is studying mechanical engineering. Can you tell?"

"Maybe… I'm not sure… I'm not in psychology… What about Rey?"

"He's…" she thought for a moment. "In computer engineering. And he also studies music on the side."

"I can tell with Michelle and Jessica," I smiled.

She nodded and smiled.

"Dearka… is in biotechnology while side studying music," I said. "But… Nicole's major in Music and minor in chemistry," I said. "Everyone gets a minor like I should get one… but… I don't really want to, and it's too late for a minor now, so… maybe not. I will graduate soon."

"Well…" she said. "I like English, I like writing stories, so maybe that was why. You didn't want to, so it's fine."

I smiled. "I definitely could."

She smiled. "It's fine if you don't want to. I don't want to take that many English courses… It's getting too much."

I smiled. "I would be like you."

I looked at my food. I liked it. It was chowder and bread. It was my favourite.

She had some other things. I liked her having chowder as well. She liked it too, just as I.

 **End of Story at Chapter 20**

* * *

 **Theme Song of H.O.P.E. Rewritten  
-A Fanfiction Song of Gundam SEED Destiny**

 **By Termony**

A story rewritten for its sake  
It was incomplete and shortened  
It was uneasy for me

I looked at it and I felt  
This was the story I wanted  
To give hope as  
H.O.P.E.  
The dots were for emphasis

It's an emotion  
H.O.P.E.  
To me it represents

Lunamaria and Athrun  
The characters for this story  
Because to me  
They are not as hopeful

They don't seem to believe  
And life was dragging on for them  
Life was not going on

They didn't believe in hope  
Maybe that was why  
they are in the story for finding hope  
For me that was how hope is found  
To find that emotion within ourselves

But is hope found for the two?  
Is hope really just about believing?

It is up for you  
The readers to decide  
In this story  
They are better off  
I found that hopeful

The insistence to go on  
That was hope in the story  
Maybe that was why  
there was hope for the characters  
But it was for others to interpret as well…

 **End of Song**

* * *

 _Author's Notes:_

To me, Hope is something that is very important. As to how the theme, aka the title ties with the story… I am not sure because I don't know if I've written well enough. But… I tried to convey a feeling of hope. Like… Meyrin got into sleeping mode, and then she got better. It's good. Like, love is uncertain sometimes, and Luna and Athrun experienced it, so it was something. Somehow, I think they got hope.

I didn't want to write about people gaining hope after something really really really bad happened like the hurricane, or the tsunami. I think enough people wrote about it already. I just… well, this is a personal choice. I just wanted to write about how to have hope in ordinary days. I think it's important as well.

Needless to say, we all have issues with family, friends, and everyday lives. Like… can I go to university? Can my friends be my friends? Can this person be with me? Like… there are a lot of things. Of course, my story is not the perfect depiction of reality, but… I think it's enough I guess... hah… (Sweat drop).

This chapter is a tying up of the story. Basically, everything ended in chapter 19. I just thought… if good things continue, there is hope. So… I wrote this chapter. Somehow, the characters continue, but the story I wrote ended.

This story is actually dedicated to the two characters, Lunamaria Hawke and Athrun Zala. Basically, somehow I felt I should write this for them. They seem so sad. So I thought, I should write it for myself as well, to encourage myself on doing things.

Anyway, most characters here are interesting.

This story is actually not just about these two, but about Nicole and Lacus as well. But… I didn't get in touch with it. So originally, this story is about Luna, Athrun, Nicole and Lacus, but I didn't plan well and stuff, so it ended up being pretty much just Athrun and Luna.

I think this story is very interesting. I drew a manga on DeviantArt and my pen name there is Termony. If anyone likes to read it, please do.

Cheers. :)

 **-Termony.**

P.S.

I think the way Luna and Athrun fall in love was cute. I think, in Chinese, it was called不經意開始的愛。In English, I think it's… The romance they started together without thinking too much.


End file.
